Answer This!, a film directed by Chris Farah and produced by his brother Mike Farah, has character!
Photo Credit: Traci Grant
Photo: Producer Mike Farah
According to producer Mike Farah, Answer This! is “basically a story about a guy trying to leave home and figuring out the best way to do that. The way that he kind of escapes from the pressures of trying to figure out what he wants to do with his life and finishing his dissertation and living up to his father’s expectations is that he plays competitive bar trivia with some of his friends. Bar trivia is kind of a new sub culture at bars…playing trivial while you hang out and have fun…it’s kind of a classic coming of age story but for a slightly older generation set within the campus and the world of pub trivia.”
Answer This! stars Ugly Betty‘s Christopher Gorham and John Tucker Must Die‘s Arielle Kebbel as a doctoral student and incoming freshman, respectively. Gorham’s character, Paul, takes up competitive bar trivia while balancing relationships with Kebbel’s Naomi and his father, played by University of Michigan professor Ralph Williams.
Answer This!’s‘ breakout star, however, is Ann Arbor itself. Explains producer Mike Farah, “There have been a lot of movies made in Michigan, but they could be any place. This is really an Ann Arbor story, a University of Michigan story. They’re central characters to the story. I would say over 90% of the people that are working on this movie are from Ann Arbor or Michigan.”
While the Farah brothers focused on making Ann Arbor a central part of their movie, Ann Arbor, and the University of Michigan particularly, has embraced the film as well. Farah says, “It’s been great because the University of Michigan has really become partners with us. This is the first time ever that the University of Michigan has lent their name to a movie that’s shooting on campus…from the top to the bottom, they’ve been great collaborators. They’ve embraced the story.”
University students received emails about casting calls and students from both the University and the Ann Arbor area showed up to appear. The filmmakers were even able to capitalize on an opportunity to include authentic Ann Arbor activities: while filming in the locally infamous “Diag,” a crisscross of paths, nature and buildings at the center of campus, an impromptu Frisbee game became a background for one of the movie’s scenes.
Neither Arielle Kebbel, nor Christopher Gorham had ever visited the University of Michigan’s iconic campus, but Mike Farah and his brother Chris Farah are natives of the city and alumni of the University. Says Kebbel, “The first thing I did was walk around the campus as much as possible.” She continues, “It’s stunningly beautiful. One day we spent the entire day bike riding around town, in the residential area, up and down hills. We went outside the town. We were bike riding across these gorgeous fields of sunflowers and poppies. I felt like I was in The Wizard of Oz.”
The wizard in this case, is producer Mike Farah. He reveals, “Essentially, the producer is the person who assembles the entire team that’s responsible for making the movie. What I love about producing is you get to have your hand in literally every phase of the process, from developing the script to casting and hiring people, and locations…everything from as mundane as insurance to planning the wrap party…the premieres…the publicity and the marketing and the distribution. When you’re the producer, a good producer is on a project from its very inception all the way through the DVD release, it’s 25th anniversary DVD celebration or something. So a good producer works on the movie from that entire evolution and that’s why you’re able to have a part in all those different things and put together the right people that make each phase of that process a success.”
If the mood of Ann Arbor is any indication of success, it seems that all involved in Answer This!, and the movie itself, will be winners.
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